Thanks for having me as your guest, Destiny. Since many of your blog followers are probably fans of your Branded series and your other western-themed stories, I'll mention that I live in a part of the US where it's not uncommon to see a cowboy hat riding on top of a hunk.
My own stories carry me and my readers to other places. I write contemporary erotic romances. Right now, I'm in the middle of The Fair Warrior Chronicles, published by eXtasy Books. The first three stories in the Chronicles have been published. The titles are Minotaur, The Huntress, and Midas. The three remaining stories—Cassandra, Morpheus, and Circe, are scheduled for publication later this year.
I kind of stumbled into the Fair Warrior Chronicles. I'd published a full-length novel with eXtasy Books, called Mandi, and a novella called Clytie. eXtasy publishes shorter stories, of twenty thousand words or less, at a lower price than the longer books. I decided to try my hand at one of those.
For a story idea, I started with a minor character from the book I'd just finished. In Clytie, there are brief mentions of a man wearing nothing but a bull's head and tail. He's the Minotaur. His appearance at an orgy is the signal for the party to go absolutely wild. Anyone can do anything to anybody.
All I knew when I started writing Minotaur was that this character would be the focal point of a story in an entirely different setting. Sixteen thousand words later, my Minotaur man had enjoyed a lot of sex (naturally), found his true love, and discovered that some extremely odd things happened whenever he put on his bull mask.
As a part of the Minotaur man's back story, I invented five friends who had worked with him a few years before at an archeological dig in Crete. They found a hidden cave and decided to use it as a good place to make out. In the cave, their minds were ravished by an invisible power. They came out disoriented, their summer romances ended, and their lives went off track.
After I finished Minotaur, I realized that I could use the same back story for five more stories, one about each of the six people who went into the cave. eXtasy Books liked the idea. They offered me a contract for the series and once-a-month publication dates for six months. I jumped at the offer.
Then I realized I had committed to produce a fifteen to twenty thousand word story once a month for the next five months, and to make it all work out as a series. Yikes!
It's gone pretty well, I think. The stories build on one another. As happened to the Minotaur man, each of the six friends discovers that she or he possesses odd powers. Their strange abilities grow stronger as they reunite. This being erotic fiction, they have a lot of sex along the way. And since the stories are romances, each of them finds their true love.
They also learn that they are pursued by a sinister and powerful corporation for reasons they don't understand. As they battle this enemy, they lern that their powers grow sharper if they engage in group sex with one another. So each of the stories has room for a ménage or two or three.
I started the last Fair Warrior story, Circe, this week. I still have a few plot points to settle, such as why the evil corporation is after my characters. I have only the faintest idea of how the plot of Circe will work out. As with all my erotic fiction, sex will move the story along. Circe and her man will have a happy ending, justice will be served on the evil doers, and I'll make my deadline!
I hope your readers enjoy this little glimpse into my writing life, Destiny. If they're interested, free first chapters of all my erotic fiction are available at valerieherme.com. I also make frequent posts to Valerie Herme's Erotic Writing Blog.
Thanks again for hosting me!
Val
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